Visiting ‘7F’ 2-8-0 No. 53808 manages to make the GCR look like the Somerset & Dorset, as it rounds Kinchley Lane curve with the ‘Windcutter’ mineral wagons during the ‘Railways at Work’ gala on May 21.

Leicester County Council has given a huge vote of confidence to the Great Central Railway’s ‘Bridge to the Future’ project – by buying 1 million of the railway’s shares for £250,000.

Due to be discussed at the council’s cabinet on June 17, the purchase is to be funded from reserves set aside for economic growth, with the aim of boosting tourism and creating new jobs in the area.

It will put the county authority on an equal footing with Leicester City Council and Charnwood Borough Council, both of which acquired 1m shares in the railway when it first reopened in 1976.

The funds will support the project to bridge the Midland Main Line at Loughborough and link to the GCR (Nottingham), as well as the new railway museum at Leicester North.

Construction of the bridge over the MML remains on course for completion by the end of 2016, with the contractors appointed and a target handover date of December 29.